What the heck happened?

I checked my portfolio around 10:30 this morning and liked what I saw. It was up $64.49 … almost 1%.

I checked to see which stocks were my top performers, took a peek at some of the headlines, closed my Robinhood app and left my phone upstairs to charge.

I hung with my kids for a bit in the middle of the day and, around the time the market was getting ready to close, figured I take another peek to see how things shook out. The answer, if you couldn’t already tell based on the title of this post, is they didn’t. Things didn’t simply shake out … they slid uncontrollably in the wrong direction.

My portfolio ended down $26.81 or .40%.

I, honestly, have no idea what happened. I rarely do, though. I’m still not even a year into this investing journey – a journey I started with absolutely zero experience – so the ups and downs often go unexplained. Everything I’ve learned, I’ve learned on my own. When and why the market will swing up or down is something I simply haven’t figured out yet.

I do know this, though: ups and downs are all a part of the game. That’s why I focus more on investing over the long haul and building a passive income stream.

Speaking of which …

Dividends

I was paid dividends from HPQ ($0.13) and DPS ($0.58). Today marked the third straight day I was paid at least one dividend.